IRELAND
Irish Examiner
Saturday, February 09, 2013
By Michael Clifford
WHAT kind of apology should Enda Kenny have issued last Tuesday?
What kind of apology did Mary Lou McDonald want him to issue?
Is it all about tokenism and point-scoring, rather than attempting to make amends to women who have endured too much for too long?
The furore over the failure of Kenny to issue an apology to survivors of the Magdalene laundries says plenty about the body politic and wider society in this country. Knee-jerk is the default reaction to everything, from guaranteeing banks to studying a detailed report on human suffering.
There is no doubt but that an apology is due to the survivors, particularly the minority that were in those institutions for long terms. That could have been issued at any time over the last decade or so. Instead, it was assumed that immediately on publication of Martin McAleese’s report into the laundries an apology would be issued by the Taoiseach on behalf of the State.
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